Blood, Smoke and Mirrors (2010) (17 page)

The vampire was too enthralled with his computer to bother to look up as I entered the room, and I was too irritated to wait for him to pay attention to me. Laura sauntered over to one of the enormous windows and stood looking out over the city, ignoring both me and Harrison. I headed over to his desk and plopped into a chair across from him.

"If this is the famed Harrison hospitality I've heard of, forgive me if I don't pick one of your hotels for my next vacation."

Harrison's fingers paused above his keyboard as he glanced up at me. "Were you mistreated?"

"Your girlfriend tried to rip out my throat, but it's okay, her claws bounced right off my shields. Oh, sorry about the floor." I waved my good hand at the trail of wet footsteps behind me. "You can put it on Laura's bill."

Anger flashed across his face, quick and terrible, and the scent of new smoke rose around us like a stinging cloud. "Please accept my sincere apology for her behavior, Miss Morrow."

"Don't apologize to that brat," Laura demanded.

"Don't call me a brat, you skanky whore," I countered.

Laura charged at me but, moving in a blur, Harrison zipped around the desk and intercepted her. Scooping her up, he flipped her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried her to the elevator. She kicked and screamed the entire way, shouting obscenities that even I would be hard-pressed to match. Harrison deposited her in the elevator, and her screeching was cut off once the doors closed, leaving the room in blessed silence.

It gave me a moment of pause--Harrison had just dealt with a member of the vampire council as though she were a cranky toddler on her way to a time-out. I tried to picture someone treating Cecelia of the Silver Crescent that way, and my brain almost bruised itself trying to conjure up that image.

"I didn't send her, I knew she wouldn't behave," he explained as he returned to his desk. "I didn't find out that she'd invited herself along for the ride until after the limo had left." Pausing, he stood in front of me and leaned back against the front of the desk.

"Uh-huh. Where's Mac?"

"He's in good hands. You'll see him shortly, after our discussion."

My heart leapt at the idea that Mac was alive--at least I hoped he was alive. I was gonna be real annoyed if they'd made him a vampire. "What discussion? If you're asking me to call off my cousins, lemme just say right now you're wasting your time."

"I would like the opportunity to speak with your family. However, I invited you here to discuss the possibility of a business arrangement between us."

"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "You need a waitress that badly? You know there're plenty of good ones looking for work out there, especially in this economy."

The vampire smiled politely. "No, no. This concerns your new position as Titania for our region. My congratulations on gaining the position, by the way. I understand your trials were particularly difficult. I supported Dorian as our candidate, of course, though ultimately I did think him unsuitable for the position."

"Then why support him at all?"

"Better the devil you know than the one you don't," Harrison answered. "At first we were unsure who the other candidates would be, and then once we found out, Dorian continued to be our best answer. We were quite surprised when you became a candidate, and considering your history, I was certain you would not be open to the prospect of working with us."

"Oh gee, why not? I mean, you only murdered my mother and tried to kill me. You invaded my clan's home and killed one of my cousins. Not the brightest thing you've done, because they're going to kill Laura and every damn vampire she's ever made, and every necromancer she's ever recruited. And their families. And their friends."

"That was Dorian's doing, not mine or hers. No one authorized it."

"I don't believe you, and they don't care."

"Dorian tended to solve problems with a slash-and-burn mentality. You will find that I'm much more diplomatic about such things," Harrison replied with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "I would welcome the opportunity to attempt to make amends with your family for his crime."

"Fat chance." I snorted. "Look, just get to the point. What do you want?"

"Your cooperation. We would like to open a dialogue with the residents of Faerie."

I barked a short, derisive laugh. "Yeah right. They won't talk to you, especially now."

"I'm sure they could be convinced to listen, if the subject were interesting enough."

"Well, unless you vamps somehow managed to overcome your abomination status, I don't see how they're going to be convinced to listen to you." I didn't care what his offer was, because the faeries weren't going to take it. Any idiot magician could tell them that.

"They will want to listen to this. We need the help of the faeries. All of us, not simply the vampires. Magicians have lived well while we have been hidden, and better still while the majority of mankind simply does not believe we exist. However in these modern times the voids come ever closer to rediscovering our existence."

"Voids?" I asked, confused. I hadn't heard the term before.

"Humans devoid of magic--straights. Each of us has our own methods for preventing detection, and they have worked well thus far, but in the past few years it has become almost impossible to keep things secret. The government searches for terrorists, and instead they uncover necromancers, shapeshifters, witches and sorcerers. Those of us who are able have been spending a great deal of time and effort to ensure that the investigators come up empty-handed, but there is only so much we can do. Eventually, they will find us, and once the public gets a hold of it...well, as a witch I'm sure you're familiar with the history of the Burning Times."

The blood drained from my face. Thousands, perhaps even millions of magicians were killed during the Burning Times. It was a dark span of our history, when the church declared open war upon our kind. As pacifists, witches suffered the brunt of the attacks. We let ourselves be slaughtered. Martyred.

I licked my lips. "Where do the fairies come into this then? They aren't a part of this world, and they can kick out any fool who tries to invade theirs."

"I think that if given the opportunity, they would like to play a greater part in this one again. To do more than play pranks, cause mischief, and seek out dalliances with the mortals. If they join with us, they can have a solid place in our world again. Perhaps even regain their lost fertility."

That was definitely a carrot that would catch the faeries' attention if dangled in front of them. No offspring of any sort had been conceived in Faerie since Faerie had been conceived itself.

"To what end?"

"My associates and I are of the opinion that we should take the initiative and inform the public of our existence before they stumble upon it themselves--after we take necessary steps to ensure our safety, of course."

"So you want me to tell the faeries about your cunning plan, so they can help you expose all of us to society?" I asked, raising a skeptical brow.

"Essentially, yes."

"Why don't you ask them to help keep us hidden instead? Living with the straights didn't work out before, that's why we went into hiding in the first place."

"This will be different from what came before."

"Why, because society is so much more tolerant than it used to be? Have you looked at the news lately? We'd just be another group for everyone to hate."

"Are you familiar with Machiavelli's work
The Prince
?"

"Sure, read it in college, why?"

"Then you know the theory of how it is better for a leader to be feared than loved. When we lived side by side, we appealed to the populace by helping them. We healed them, we protected them, we educated them, and they repaid us by slaughtering our kind in droves. I propose that this time we rule them, as we are uniquely equipped to do so, and that we be the ones who deal out the death when necessary."

I blinked at him, horrified by his matter-of-fact tone--he would make tyrants out of us. "Oh hell no."

"I assure you, Catherine, it is the only way. I need you to help me set things in motion."

"Absolutely not," I spat.

"I thought you might feel that way, at first. Given time, you'll come to agree with my point of view." Standing, he circled around behind his desk and sat in his chair. Harrison tapped out something on his keyboard for a moment, and then leaned back in his seat.

"Yeah, right, so not going to happen."

"I wish you to stay here until your initiation ceremony, so that we may discuss this further. Will you agree to this?"

"No."

"You may want to hear the second half of that offer before you turn it down," he advised. From behind me I heard the sound of the elevator doors opening, and I turned toward them.

"
Mac
," I gasped. Leaping to my feet, I ran to meet him, and he'd only taken a few steps out of the elevator when I threw my arms around him in a crushing hug. I'd never been so happy to see someone in my entire life.

"Oof! Glad to see you too, Cat." He was too pale, and seemed thinner than usual, but he was alive.
Alive.
I sniffed him to make sure he wasn't a vamp, and much to my relief he still smelled like librarian. Sweaty librarian, but definitely not a vampire or necromancer.

"What happened? Your plane--everyone thinks you're dead."

"Never got on the plane, they nabbed me before I even got to Midway," Mac replied.

"But why?"

"Insurance," Harrison answered, still seated at his desk. "In case Dorian failed, we wanted to make sure that we had something you valued for negotiation purposes. We had no idea that his plane was going to crash, but it does create an interesting dilemma."

"What kind of dilemma?"

"Well, the world believes that Mr. MacInnes is deceased, because we arranged for the computer records to indicate that he got on the plane. When the plane crashed, he was counted among the dead. To the rest of the world, he's already a dead man. If you do not agree to my terms, Miss Baker, I will kill your friend."

I stared at him, horrified. "And if I agree, we'll both go free and unharmed when the time is up?"

"Of course," he replied, nodding. "We'll even compensate you financially for wages lost while in our company."

I swallowed hard. There were many words rushing through my head, many of them involving four letters, but I choked my anger down and nodded. "All right, you win. I agree to stay until the time of my ceremony and listen to your plans."

"Excellent. For now, I'm sure you could do with some food and rest. And before you try calling your cousins to your rescue, I should also point out that this entire building is triple warded against faeries. They can't hear you, nor will you be opening any portals to Faerie from here," Harrison advised. "I suggest you enjoy your stay for the time being. We will discuss matters further tomorrow, over dinner." He smiled at me, and I really hoped that I wasn't the one on the menu for the meal.

The vampire motioned toward the elevator and I turned to see the doors open, and two giant thugs stepped out. "Please escort Miss Baker to the room that has been prepared for her, and escort Mr. MacInnes back to his room as well. They are not to be harmed in any way, or you will answer to me."

Mac and I entered the elevator, and I clung to his hand like a nervous child. Everyone was silent during the short ride, and then the doors opened to reveal a hallway decorated in warm earth tones, lined with doors on each side and the occasional decorative potted plant.

"This way, Miss Baker," one of the thugs intoned.

I hugged Mac and whispered, "Love you, hon. I'll see you later." Mac gave me a weak smile in return, and then I stepped out into the hallway. The thug led me down a maze of halls until he finally stopped in front of a nondescript door and opened it, ushering me through. Once I was safely inside he shut the door behind me, leaving me alone. Though I had a feeling the effort was futile, I checked to see if the door was locked. Of course it was.

I stood in a short hallway that angled off a few steps away from me. Compared to the cold, barren feeling of Harrison's office, this decor was much more my style--cream wallpaper adorned the walls and the rich burgundy carpet was so thick and plush my shoes instantly sank into it. I looked down at my muddy white sneakers and scowled. With one hand leaning against the locked door for balance, I toed both shoes off and then tugged the damp socks off afterwards. My toes wriggled happily in the unfamiliar feeling of clean, new carpeting, and I walked forward to explore the place further. After the bend the hallway opened up into an enormous room.

"Lord and Lady." I whistled, impressed. Off to my left was a bar, an honest-to-goodness bar stocked with a variety of glasses and bottles of expensive liquor, with three barstools lined up in front of the highly polished dark wood. To my right was a round dining table with four chairs around it, and the room stretched out past the table to include a sitting area with couches, tables and a ginormous flat-screen television hung on the wall. A door across from me led into what I assumed must be another room, and I headed toward it.

The bedroom was also huge, complete with an orgy-sized bed like the one I had in my room in Castle Silverleaf, though this was a much more modern design. The headboard was the same glossy dark wood as the bar and tables in the previous room, and a mountain of pillows were arranged at the head of the bed. An overstuffed easy chair sat in the corner with a table and reading lamp next to it, and there was even a bookcase along the wall next to it. Curious, I crossed to it and examined the titles. They were all books I owned, an eclectic array of the works of my favorite authors. I frowned, concerned. How long had the vamps been planning my stay here? Since they nabbed Mac? Since the moment they heard of my father's death? I supposed it wouldn't be too difficult to find out my reading habits, they only needed to look at the history of my credit card, and that would be a ridiculously simple task for someone like Zachary Harrison.

On to the next room, I decided. The next door was to the right of the door back to the sitting room, and it led to a walk-in closet complete with dressing table and a lighted mirror that took up a good portion of the wall. I jumped, startled by my bedraggled appearance--rain and my hair do not mix well. In the reflection of the mirror I spotted clothes filling the racks behind me. I was willing to bet they were all my size too--there seemed to be a running theme with people feeling the need to makeover my wardrobe. First the faeries, now the vampires. Frowning, I opened one of the drawers and discovered a rainbow of satiny, lacy undergarments.